Research consistently demonstrates a link between decreased fertility thanks to contraception and increased female employment. And right on cue, women, freed up from unwanted child bearing and child rearing, consequently flooded the workforce after the pill became widely accessible. In 1950, 18 million women were in the workforce. By the 1980s, the pill’s impact had had such an effect that 60 percent of women of reproductive age were employed. By 2000, the ranks of women in the workforce had more than tripled since the ’50s, rising to 66 million. Overall, from 1970 to 2009 women went from holding 37 percent of all jobs to almost half of them.
But of course more women in the workforce is a threat to, you know, men. Also, the Republicans -- and especially Limbaugh and his disciples -- don't want the economy to improve.
Overall, affordable access to healthcare is good for the economy too. It reduces the deficit, increases GDP and so forth. Healthier people means healthier bottom lines.